OMAP everywhere
Beagleblog
My preoccupation with the Beagleboard has made me more aware of ARM and in particular OMAP based hardware products. Even more so as I am very much interested in low power computing and rumour has it that ARM cores use a lot less power than any i386 architecture including Atom chips. In my view using ARM cores with an additional DSP (which can be seen as a kind of asymmetrical multi-core) is a good fit for low power computers with an occasional need for high performance multimedia computing such as video decoding.
So I got pretty excited when Dell announced an ARM based laptop a while ago which is supposed to have a "multi-day" battery life. (Dell also does Via Nano based rack servers but I don't know anything about their power consumption yet). While looking for those on the Internet I had to learn that presumably Dell has changed their plans and the E4200 and E4300 devices have silently become Intel based devices. Probably someone at Dell has become aware of the fact that there is no general purpose Windows for the ARM processor family (CE only).
However I encountered another OMAP based netbook called Touchbook by the company Always Innovating. You can pre-order the device which is supposed to be shipping this month according to their web site. It has an OMAP3530 (same as the Beagleboard) with 256 MB RAM and 256 NAND memory (that is non-volatile memory). It doesn't have a hard disk but instead permanently saves data on an SD(HC) card. The device will be running Angstrom Linux Angstrom with the Xfce window manager and the usual media applications such as MPlayer, F-Spot and Pidgin.
You will find more or less the same hardware in the long-awaited Open Pandora handheld game console, which unfortunately has been delayed due to the financial crisis. Not to mention the constantly growing number of smart phones that make use of the OMAP chip series. You may take Adobe's recent announcement to bring the Flash technology to the OMAP platform as a sign of it's still growing importance, too. Oh yeah, and the Palm Pre, too :)
Comments
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Servers Targeted by Akira Ransomware
A group of bad actors who have already extorted $42 million have their sights set on the Linux platform.
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.
-
Canonical Collaborates with Qualcomm on New Venture
This new joint effort is geared toward bringing Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core to Qualcomm-powered devices.
-
Kodi 21.0 Open-Source Entertainment Hub Released
After a year of development, the award-winning Kodi cross-platform, media center software is now available with many new additions and improvements.
-
Linux Usage Increases in Two Key Areas
If market share is your thing, you'll be happy to know that Linux is on the rise in two areas that, if they keep climbing, could have serious meaning for Linux's future.
-
Vulnerability Discovered in xz Libraries
An urgent alert for Fedora 40 has been posted and users should pay attention.
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
Omap has been everywhere already